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Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” And the king did as he was told. Elisha told him, “Put your hand on the bow,” and Elisha laid his own hands on the king’s hands. Then he commanded, “Open that eastern window,” and he opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” So he shot an arrow. Elisha proclaimed, “This is the L ord ’s arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek.” Then he said, “Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.”

Moral of the story: Build faith. Don’t despise God’s instructions through his servants no matter how ridiculous it seems. I feel like King Jehoash didn’t see the sense in Elisha’s instructions or didn’t fully understand the importance.

TEMI:

here’s what I took away from reading Psalm 82.

I think this passage applies to everyone, not just magistrates. At a point in everyone’s life, one has to act as a judge. God is a Judge. Our Jehovah Hashopet. He judges fairly and fearlessly. Since we are children of God, we should strive to uphold those God-like qualities in our decision making/judgment. Psalm 82:5 (NLT) speaks of the “oppressors…” . To me, the oppressors create fear in the judges’ hearts, so judgment is placed in favor of the oppressors. That same verse also speaks of “the foundations of the earth are shaken. “

I think that is in reference to the weakness/instability of our society’s values which has been brought about by the injustice in the world.

Deuteronomy 1:17 Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.”

9:17am, May 31 – Ibukun: God has made us King over ourselves and our bodies and certain things He has purposed for us. Looking at Israel & Judah, God dealt with them according tp what their king did even after some kings had died, their names were still mentioned wether for good or bad. Question is how’s ur kingship? How have we acted out our responsibilities? Have we shared God’s glory with other “gods”? Are u a King David/Joash/Hezekaih or are you a Jeroboam/Jehu/Ahab?

9:45am, May 31 – Olu Seun: I also have a question. Throughout 2 Kings I keep seeing ‘He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit’.

Where’s the Jeroboam guy located in the Bible. Was he the first to do evil.

9:50am, May 31 – Veronique: Well, I think attitude towards the word of God means how you value the word of God. Do we approach the word with a proud heart or as a religious rite? Do we honour the word of God by looking for how to apply to our lives? Do we see his word as the first opinion or final resort? These and many more actions show God if we honour his word or not.

10:00am, May 31 – Veronique: @Olu, my opinion is God had special interest in Jeroboam because he was the first to become king of Israel. When God took 10 tribes from Solomon He gave it to him. Also he stood in the office of the priest which he was not supposed to even when he was warned he never heeded. His case was much like Saul, picked from the dunghills of life and given divine opportunity but he misfired. Even when there was grace to repent he ignored it. Indeed, to whom much is given much is expected

10:10am, May 31 – Mercy: @Chidinma, like Veronique already said, it’s about our value of God’s Word. Pple from other religion literally adore their holy books, but unfortunately we see Bibles lying helplessly around. Plus, it goes beyond just handling d Bible with care,, but have regards for what it says. For God Himself honours His Word more than His name. We must treasure the Word of God.

Ese: Good morning family… Hi Damola and Temi,thanks for the intro.

My summary of ps 83: God show Your enemies pepper!!! 

Cheers to the weekend fam!

Olu Seun: We’ve been studying abroad the Kings of Israel and Judah. Isn’t Judah among the tribes of Israel? Samaria is part of Judah. So why did Israelites look down on Samaritans during the time of Jesus?

4:31pm, May 31 – Olu Seun: About*

4:36pm, May 31 – Olu Seun: Sorry Samaria is in Israel.

4:48pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: Good question

5:15pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: Exactly. Israel and Judah got separated after king Solomon. Into

5:16pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: Rehoboam and Jeroboam

5:16pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: 1 kings 11-13

5:17pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: They fought wars, against each other

5:19pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: And yea, some history based on God tearing apart the kingdom, but leaving a part for David’s sake.- Judah

5:21pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: 1 Kings 15:6

5:24pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: You mean the Jews looking down on Samaritans yea? As Jesus would be a Jew. The lion of the tribe of Judah.

5:24pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: Yep

5:29pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: No account of Ahaz repenting was made in 2 kings 16. We would see in chronicles though. Whether he did or didn’t. His son Hezekiah is doing well so far.

5:31pm, May 31 – Olu Seun: Children don’t always turn out like their parents.

Thanks for the references.

Ibukun: Yh. Hezekiah is a breath of fresh air. I was practically holding my breath hoping to see “Hezekiah did well in the sight of God”. It was nice to know that there are still good people

5:34pm, May 31 – Ike-amadi.com: Yes yes. A breath of fresh air. So I wrote in my notes.

5:34pm, May 31 – Ibukun: Lol. Yeah. Shows there’s hope for Nigeria after all. We’ll keep praying for the Davids and Joashs and Hezekiahs of Nigeria to get into the seat of power 🙂

5:35pm, May 31 – Temi La187: Chei! Trying to catch up on what i’ve missed

5:36pm, May 31 – Olu Seun: 2 Kings 17:12-13 NLT

Yes, they worshiped idols, despite the L ord ’s specific and repeated warnings. Again and again the L ord had sent his prophets and seers to warn both Israel and Judah: “Turn from all your evil ways. Obey my commands and decrees—the entire law that I commanded your ancestors to obey, and that I gave you through my servants the prophets.”

Goodness. God is soooooo patient. Maybe that’s what is happening in the world. People openly defying God. But for His mercies we are not consumed!

5:36pm, May 31 – Olu Seun: Ibukun. Amennnn.

5:36pm, May 31 – Temi La187: 2 Kings 17:15 blew me away. “They worshipped worthless idols, so THEY BECAME WORTHLESS themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them.”

I noticed that the Israelites were really diligent in their worship (2 Kings 17:9-11) sadly they were worshiping pagan gods. Kinda like how we might make worldly things our gods by focusing solely on our careers, school work, spending time with family , friends etc but placing fellowship with God on our to-do list , hoping we’d be able to squeeze in time for Him later on in the day, week, month or year. If we don’t have a daily relationship with God, we can’t be used by Him (worthless)

The second part of 2 Kings 17:15 “They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them.” reminded me of Romans 12:2 where we are instructed “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

5:38pm, May 31 – Ibukun: Well said 🙂

Oge: wow, I don’t even know where to start because so many things stood out to me. But I have to say that reading this is proof that I need a geography lesson of the kingdoms that were spoken of in the Bible….whew!! Samaria, Isreal, Judah, Assyria, Jerusalem…..I had to pay extra attention to make sure I wasn’t mixing up the different kings, priest, servants of each nation

6:22pm, May 31 – Oge: Just for those who miSsed my text 2 days ago when I joined LA 187. My name is Oge. Siter and friend to Oluseun and Temi boo. I live in Grenada and I am getting my medical degree and masters in public health. Am happy to be a part of this family and believe God has a plan for bringing us together like this for His glory.

6:23pm, May 31 – Oge: Okay…..with all that said and out of the way, I am going to try and start to point out a few things that stuck out to me and some that gave me Chills…

6:34pm, May 31 – Oge: Okay, before I say my own….I had to read everyone’s feeds so I don’t do too much repetition. Ese, lol. Very much hitting the nail on the head. God does know how to show His enemies( because anyone who rises against us has risen against Him) pepper.

6:37pm, May 31 – Oge: Ibukun, amen. This is what I keep telling people. Nigeria is not going to be a ‘by power or might’ issue. So it saddens me when I see and hear Nigerians talk so negatively about the land God has given us. Its like running away from a war because we think God cannot show forth Himself instead of being like Hezekiah even when he was told a bunch of insulting and threatening things by the King of Assyria(of whose name I am still not sure what it is,lol) took all he was told to God and said, here Lord, please you have to do s/t. Not once did he trust in himself or retort back to the Assyrian king or his messengers.

6:39pm, May 31 – Oge: Oluseun, sweetheart, lol. Bless your heart. You mentioned that it was too mean….well, our God is a faithful, merciful God and one who is beyind patient like you have already noted but He is a CONSUMING fire. This fact even us nEed to remember more often so as not to take His grace for granted.

6:42pm, May 31 – Oge: Temiboo, I totally got chills reading 2 Kings 17:15 as well. I don’t want to be found worthless to God…God forbid that be our portion in Jesus Name-Amen! But it is very true how we can easily replace fellowship and time with God with so many other things in our lives and even become de-sensitized to His commandments.

6:44pm, May 31 – Oge: God bless you all for sharing….now I will try and finally share my own,lol. (I found myself wanting to use a concordance while reading.) I am just so happy and thankful I became part of this family because now ALL of you are my accountability partners to study the word and its so much more fun. 🙂

6:49pm, May 31 – Oge: In 2 Kings 11:33-41 ” 33 And though they worshiped the LORD, they continued to follow their own gods according to the religious customs of the nations from which they came.

34 And this is still going on today. They continue to follow their former practices instead of truly worshiping the LORD and obeying the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands he gave the descendants of Jacob, whose name he changed to Israel.

35 For the LORD had made a covenant with the descendants of Jacob and commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow before them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. 36 But worship only the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt with great strength and a powerful arm. Bow down to him alone, and offer sacrifices only to him. 37 Be careful at all times to obey the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands that he wrote for you. You must not worship other gods. 38 Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and do not worship other gods.

39 You must worship only the LORD your God. He is the one who will rescue you from all your enemies.”

40 But the people would not listen and continued to follow their former practices.

41 So while these new residents worshiped the LORD, they also worshiped their idols. And to this day their descendants do the same.”

6:50pm, May 31 – Oge: Its interesting to see how the new inhabitants of Samaria thought they could pull off ‘fearing’ God and also ‘fearing’/worshipping other gods

6:51pm, May 31 – Oge: And its even more interesting to see how the Bible clearly states in vs. 34 that this practice is still going on today. And it is!!!

6:52pm, May 31 – Oge: We say we are worshippers of Christ but are still holding on to the other ‘gods’/idols in our lives (addictions, friends, s/times family, career, school…myou name it)

6:52pm, May 31 – Oge: God will help us in Jesus name- Amen. (Because NO ONE said it would be easy anyhu)

6:53pm, May 31 – Uchechi: Amen

6:53pm, May 31 – Oge: In Chapter 18….Oh gosh, don’t even get me started with Hezekiah

6:54pm, May 31 – Oge: I just really bless God for his life. In fact, he has become one of my favs now in the Bible cause geez.

6:55pm, May 31 – Oge: Even when the Assyrian king came in his face and laughed saying, is it that you’re a mumu or you didn’t see all the other kings and their ppl perish from my destruction where they were trusting their gods?

6:58pm, May 31 – Oge: But like s/o mentioned earlier( sorry don’t remember the name now :)) the HUGE mistake that Assyrian King made was to compare some moi-moi gods to our KiNg of Kings….he def took too much and God had to show Himself. This Assyrian king not only ran back to his ‘parent’s house’ ,lol aka hometown but was also slain by his sons….*shuddering chills* mehn. idk if anyone felt the same way I did. But that was deep

6:59pm, May 31 – Oge: Oh gosh, I have been here for an hour or more and I just looked at the time and I have class in a 30mins. Have to go shower and get ready but I have so much more I wanna share so maybe later tonight I will post it.

6:59pm, May 31 – Oge: But the big picture for me is not totrust in myself or ability

7:00pm, May 31 – Oge: God is soo much more creative and neat with taking care of things.

7:00pm, May 31 – Oge: He told Hezekiah not to worry about the embarassing things the Assyrian king said, that he will take care of it and at the end of chapter 19—He did!

7:02pm, May 31 – Oge: So let’s be more like Hezekiah and remember the God in whom we serve and have our being- so as to be people of a high standard and a people He can trust with His word sef.

7:03pm, May 31 – Oge: I love you all. Have a blessed day, a glorious weekend and Oluseun, my sugar plum, thanks for inviting me to this family. #LA187 rocks! 

Mercy: 2 Kings 20:7-8. But Hezekiah had recovered in verse 7, why was he asking for a sign again?

12:28pm, Jun 1 – Mercy: Oh, thank God for Josiah!

1:55pm, Jun 1 – Ike-amadi.com: Oh yes. Well, perhaps Hezekiah recovered emotionally and in his spirit man. But he still had bruises and sores. That was the sign here needed, I think.

1:55pm, Jun 1 – Ike-amadi.com: Hezekiah is truly a breath of fresh air. Why did he open all up to the Babylonians though. #la187

1:55pm, Jun 1 – Ike-amadi.com: One noticeably enviable thing about Hezekiah was that he destroyed the Asherah poles. He did something #la187

1:55pm, Jun 1 – Ike-amadi.com: But alas! Manasseh was unlike his father Hezekiah. Brutally evil. #la187. Sons must strive to be godly like their fathers.

2:09pm, Jun 1 – Ese: Good morning family. And happy new month. This is my month of “Doing somethings” I am all excited about what’s in store. I read the 2Kings chapters for the first time since it began this morning *covers face*

I must say,i admire Josiah and its my prayer that we would be leaders of such noble character. I kinda wonder why God didnt change His mind about destroying His people when Josiah asked. I also noticed most of the kings started ruling from a pretty young age (kinda makes me wonder wot the excuse of oldies in this generation are) lol.

As for ps 84,i will summarize thus: “I long to dwell in the presence of God for therein lies everything i need.”

Have a great weekend peeps

2:11pm, Jun 1 – Mercy: Psalm 84 There is nothing like the presence of the Lord.